Search form

All stories

When it comes to customer experience, the time for talk has passed

There’s a lot of talk about the importance and value of customer experience. A LOT of talk. But there is still not as much meaningful action going on as there really should be. Read more

October 2018

Authentically disruptive: staying true, thinking differently

While not every brand can push the boundaries as far as Alibaba or Airbnb, opportunities exist for established brands to challenge norms and perceived wisdoms about their own brand or category. Full article

August 2018

Leaps of faith: inspiring trust in disruptive times

The concept of trust has usually been associated with stasis more than change. It brings up images of age-old, time-tested, large, solid brands and organisations with large and loyal user bases. Full article

Latest news & insights

Published: 29/10/2018
There’s a lot of talk about the importance and value of customer experience. A LOT of talk. But there is still not as much meaningful action going on as there really should be.
Customer experience (CX) is a rapidly-...

Published: 23/10/2018
Around this time two years ago, we wrote a blog about the Paris motor show. It was a whistle-stop showcase of the best and most exciting innovations on display. One paragraph was devoted entirely to mobility, as it was...

Published: 20/08/2018
Disruption is happening all around us, from the TV that we watch, to the taxis we take or the way we make payments. By definition, something that “interrupts an event, activity, or process”, disruption has become a...

Published: 25/07/2018
The concept of trust has usually been associated with stasis more than change. It brings up images of age-old, time-tested, large, solid brands and organisations with large and loyal user bases.
Consider the following...

Published: 10/07/2018
The best EV recipe is fine dining, not fast food.
The appetite for electric vehicles (EV) is increasing across the world, with some countries more voracious than others. Norway, the Netherlands and France can’t get...

Published: 30/04/2018
China’s automotive industry, for so long a follower of the established global manufacturers, is now pulling alongside and preparing to overtake. Such is their rate of progress it might not be long until they are...

Published: 15/04/2018
Over the past decade, social media have opened up a world of connection, allowing people to communicate, share ideas, activities, events, play games, listen to music and more. So it’s not surprising that this ecosystem...

E-commerce grocery market has grown 30%
Sales of groceries through e-commerce platforms grew by 30% in the 12 months to March 2017, according to a new report by Kantar Worldpanel.
Stéphane Roger, Global Shopper and Retail Director at...

Brands are increasing their spend on social media, but are facing greater challenges to create deeper relationships with people. As people demand seamless integration between user generated and branded content, platforms are putting...

Published: 19/01/2018
Connected car tech is clever stuff, but are auto brands forgetting one fundamental element in their quest for competitive advantage: the driver?
Demonstrating real-world relevance is a basic step many manufacturers...

Published: 16/01/2018
Like it or not, our data is being harvested all the time and used to ‘personalise’ our online experience. Increasingly people are wary and are asking more and more questions about how their data is being used: and what...

Published: 04/12/2017
We invite brands into our lives to provide the products and services we need. And in this connected, switched-on world, we expect them to be available to us whenever and wherever we want. Yet this creates tension:...

While ‘post-truth’ has become a popular catch phrase thanks to the political turbulence of the last couple of years, the crisis of trust in the connected world extends much beyond recent history. In fact, people have been grappling with...

Print and broadcast media have held up to attacks from politicians.
Populist politicians around the world have attempted to label mainstream news outlets as purveyors of “fake news”. The results of Kantar’s global 'Trust in News' study has...

Connected Life examined trust and connectivity across 56 countries and the results were polarised. Whilst European and US consumers’ trust in brands is being undermined by the poor deployment of advertising and content, countries across...

What are the five vital areas where brands need to be strong to survive or thrive in the decade ahead?
It’s a historic tipping point for the automotive industry. A time of innovative revolution and mobility enlightenment. Experts reckon...

The world of banking is evolving at a blistering pace. Digitisation and challenges from FinTechs require even the most traditional banks to move with the times . It’s no wonder banks are feeling nervous: the rise of FinTechs and challenger...

Few sectors have experienced as much disruption as banking over the last decade or so. The trusted partner personified by a high street presence and friendly bank manager has given way to an uneasy hybrid of digital and telephone services...

Beauty brands occupy a very special and intimate place in our hearts. The products we use on our bodies need to look, smell and feel just right. In the days before online shopping, experimentation happened in store or at specially curated...

Modern life is fast, furious and unpredictable. The internet facilitates the travel of trends from one side of the globe to the other, inspiring experimentation leaving brands with a traditionally loyal fan base face in stiff competition....

Once upon a time baby boomers were teenagers, the American dream was gold and owning a car was the ultimate status symbol. The automotive industry enjoyed limitless enthusiasm from its customers since so many important moments in their...

The snack food industry is well-versed in psychology. To be successful, a brand must know that we nibble not just to satisfy our basic hunger, but also our emotional needs. Snack food brands have historically positioned their products to...

Sipping sun-glistening cocktails between lazy palms in Mallorca. Barging slowly past picturesque villages on a spring day in Holland. Holiday moments are timeless. And the travel sector has always sold them neatly bundled, capturing the...

We live in an ‘on-demand’ economy, with goods and services designed to arrive at lightning speed for virtually all of life’s moments. That moment you need a taxi? An Uber is 2 minutes away. Hungry right now? Deliveroo will bring your...

“Tools down… it’s time for a beer.” (Or two)
Weeknight drinks with friends and colleagues are often a welcome release after the weekly grind. And they’re hard to turn down - the moment your laptop closes at the end of a long day feels...

Women are from Venus and men are from Mars, or so say the tired tropes. Yet, at a time where gender roles are in flux, brands should be designing to gender differences.
Femininity: its definition, role and perceived value within society is...

Picture the scene: you’re trying to share a video with a couple of friends to illustrate a point you’ve been arguing about for the last half hour. As the video loads, an ad pops up at twice the volume of what you’ve been playing before. You...

Connectivity has a fundamental influence on how people consume media and make brand choices. It gives brands the opportunity to increase reach exponentially. Our latest Connected Life study reveals that for nearly a third of consumers...

Bill Gates once described the internet as the “town square for the global village of tomorrow”. It’s a town square that supports a rich diversity of shops and shopping experiences. Look across markets, and you quickly discover that not only...

At the recent Milan fashion show for Dolce & Gabbana, editors of long-established industry bibles like Vogue found themselves relegated to the second row. Most of the young people on the sought-after seats in front of them didn’t work...

As their audiences become more connected, brand marketers need to be open-minded about where their best opportunities lie
A young woman in South Korea recently spent most of her day browsing an online shopping site – in breaks at work, over...

Emotional intelligence through data
Emotional Intelligence can be summed up as the ability to recognise and respond to how others are feeling at a particular moment in time. Without it, relationships tend to break down – and that’s the risk...

Marketing in the Social-Mobile world
Digital marketing strategies have historically had the web browser and the search engine at their heart. Marketers have relied on these channels to lead audiences to brand experiences on owned websites,...

Winning the second wave: the key to online video success
What pushes an online video campaign past the tipping point? What separates those with genuine momentum, sustained influence and real return on investment from those that generate a...

How brands will win in grocery’s eCommerce boom
On June 9, Amazon announced the launch of its AmazonFresh online supermarket in London, with the likelihood of rolling out this same-day delivery across other major UK cities. It’s the first...

What do effective social media campaigns look like? Marketers tend to answer this question by adding up numbers. They keep score of views, likes and shares, of the number of feeds that their activity appears in and the number of actions...

The touchpoints revolution has created a big bang of rapidly emerging new data sources – but between these points of light, it’s also created black holes in our understanding that only a re-engineered approach to research can fill.
A new...

Virtual reality is the next big thing in digital, with virtual environments spreading beyond the gaming and entertainment worlds and hitting the mainstream in the form of Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and Sony Playstation VR. These products have...

It’s increasingly said that today’s brands are the sum of consumer experiences – and that marketers are in the business of selling customer journeys rather than simply stand-alone products. The problem they face, though, is that very few...

In a rapidly changing digital landscape, marketers must re-think the roles that their brands play in consumers' lives – and how they bring those roles to life across platforms and touchpoints. To be effective, they need a means of targeting...

Marketers need sophisticated information which enables them to look to the future, not the past, says Rosie Hawkins, global head of brand and communication at TNS
A constant complaint about market research is that it is backward looking....

New forms of social platforms present a new set of challenges for brands – and they can’t afford to duck them
For the best part of a decade, our online social lives have been defined by a handful of giant networks: Facebook, Twitter and (for...

The dynamics of transforming consumer behaviour
Fast-moving digital technology has driven almost continuous change in attitudes, behaviour and habits, and this has been hugely disruptive for marketing. However the technologies that set the...

Why is a set of perfect white teeth imperative for Americans? Why are Chinese men so slow to trust each other? Why is 'scoundrel' a compliment in Brazil? Why do German men think it is okay to walk around naked? And why are British men...

Every day millions of customers share their experiences of products and services on social media. This ought to be a game-changing opportunity for brands and businesses to transform those experiences. Yet the constant stream of social media...

Time and time again brands see their hard-won place in consumer hearts and minds failing.
Nothing exerts so great an influence on shoppers’ choices as brand equity; the way a shopper feels about a brand and his or her existing relationship...

Extensive research from TNS proves that social media and search data can accurately predict the results of brand tracker surveys months in advance. The implications for market research are enormous.
In this feature we explain the techniques...

Emotion is fundamental to every decision that every consumer makes. It enables our fast thinking, exerts an unconscious influence over our choices and is always, always in play when it comes to how we respond to brands. Brands can only...

Brands are obsessed with the art of telling stories. However, only by unearthing deeper narratives within their audience’s minds can they tell original tales that connect on a deeper level.
The fact is though, that many brands are too busy...

The nuances of today’s digital lives demand a new form of segmentation.
In this feature, you’ll meet the four personas of connected consumers that can guide multi-channel strategies in a fragmenting media landscape, and explore how the...

It’s a universal archetype that dominates the human consciousness and occupies an emotional space many brands aspire to.
But taking on the Hero role demands a very different approach depending on the market you are operating in.
We present...

Metaphor provides marketers with immensely powerful tools: a means of tapping into the intangible emotions and aspirations that dominate human lives and personalities.
Yet the power of metaphors mean they must be handled with care. In this...

Online sales growth routinely outstrips any other kind – yet less than half of all online research translates into purchase.
Connected Life reveals the barriers that keep shoppers in different cultures browsing rather than buying, and the...

Predicting, managing and profiting from new technologies is one of the most important challenges that business leaders face.
It requires them to integrate a hugely diverse range of perspectives in a meaningful way: they must balance the...

Good performance alone cannot crack the complex customer code that governs the strength of your customer relationships and the sustainability of your business.
In today’s highly competitive environment, it is essential to understand which...

The world has many popular brands but only a select few have the magnetic power of irresistibility. Now a new study from TNS has revealed what it takes to become an irresistible brand – and why it is so important to do so.
Irresistible...

Today’s brand tracking surveys ask the wrong questions – and they ask far too many of them.
In this feature, we explain the flaws that are reducing the effectiveness of many tracking studies – and why TNS has re-engineered tracking around...